Like so many others ... I have a male 12 1/2 week old GSD with diarrhea problems.

We got Jake at 8 weeks old and we had issues with loose stools from day 1. After my husband was up every 20 minutes one night we took him to the vet. They did an exam and fecal tests and he had roundworms and tapeworms. They also suspected a slight infection because his lymph nodes were slightly enlarged. So he got deformed, was put on medication (can't remember name, but it started with an m) and instructions to feed him Medi-cal gastrointestinal high energy canned food for 3 days. He did well and had well formed poops.

Fast forward to last Wednesday and I was up with him again all night. We called the vet and they advised us to feed the bland diet again for a few days and if no improvement bring a stool sample back in for testing. He had just been in a week earlier for vaccinations, another fecal test ( which came back clean).

Jake was being fed Solid Gold when he came home to us. We slowly started to transition him to Acana large breed puppy food. He'd have the start of a sold poop, but it finished loose pretty much all the time.

So we are now trying to switch him to Royal Canin GSD puppy food. My husband made the stupid mistake of over feeding him and giving him only the new food so how was up all last night with him again. He didn't poop all day and he just had a loose poop again about an hour ago.

I'm going to stop off at the vet on the way home tomorrow. I'm thinking another fecal test might be in order.

Like so many others Im afraid Jake has the typical sensitive GSD stomach. It is so frustrating. Outside of these issues, he is full of energy and he is such a great pup. I just want to see him pooping well and gaining more weight.

Has he ever had a blood panel? The lymph nodes are a bit out of character for regular parasites or a sensitive stomach I think?

Sounds to me like the vaccinations triggered a relapse. Have the lymph nodes been rechecked?

I would, at least to start with, get him on some probiotics if he isn't already. I would also look to find a single protein, single carb food, preferably with no chicken, at least until he gets stable.

He wasn't necessarily doing well on the Solid Gold food. Plus it was not readily available where we live. The breeder gave us a bag and once we got him he slowly started transitioning him to the Acana Large Breed Puppy.

Has he ever had a blood panel? The lymph nodes are a bit out of character for regular parasites or a sensitive stomach I think?

Sounds to me like the vaccinations triggered a relapse. Have the lymph nodes been rechecked?

I would, at least to start with, get him on some probiotics if he isn't already. I would also look to find a single protein, single carb food, preferably with no chicken, at least until he gets stable.

No, he hasn't had a blood panel done. And yes, he had the lymph nodes rechecked. He had that problem at 8 1/2 weeks and he was back in to see the vet at 11 1/2 weeks and they were fine then.

I'm at work today, but will be taking fecal samples back in to the vet today and would like to talk to our vet about next steps. I'll discuss the probiotics and the blood panel with her. I also want to talk to her about the Medi-Cal Gastrointestinal canned food. Its the only food he's had firm poops with. They do make a dry version of this food as well and I wonder if it might be a good idea to try him on that for a while.

Is anyone able to provide suggestions for a single protein, single carb food that doesn't have chicken?

It's a little low in protein (21%) but 1.0 calcium and higher in calories (419) so that they get less, meaning they won't be getting extra calcium because you have to feed more.

It's pretty plain, mostly fish and sweet potato, smells bad and is greasy - they love it. They also seem to do well on it.

We do a lot of de-worming with puppies. Not a lot (that sounds bad!) unnecessarily, but my vet has a system based on which worms appear at what ages, and goes with that, along with kind of frequent fecals to check for coccidia and giardia on top of that. For each worm, there is a suggested follow up re-de-worming time frame. They are also really good at prescribing the right dewormer for the job (and I double check them on the Mar Vista vet website ). Granted, the puppies I get are usually obviously full of worms, but it works!

I am taking a stool sample in for testing this afternoon. Going to ask for a Giardia test. They will run the in house fecal tests today and the vet will give us a call to advise how to proceed.

The receptionist did recommend keeping him on the Medi-cal Gastrointestinal food for the time being until we can determine what is going on. We have a few days supply left, but I will discuss with the vet on the phone later today.

I'm very impressed with this vet office so far. They are willing to work with you and they aren't into nickle and diming. They work on figuring out what is wrong first and clearly care first and foremost for the well being of the animal. After the fecal tests, if a visit with the vet is necessary, we will do it. I'm not in the position at this point, but they offer payment plans if necessary.

The only thing with it is that at 360 calories, you will feed more of it, upping the amount of calcium that they eventually do get. I do not know the amount of difference between 419 calories and 1.0 calcium and 360 and the percent that they have in that formula - like what is enough to say oh, that's enough to make it a thing for a pup that you want slow growth from.

OK here's another thought from left field... I was delighted to have higher quality feed available locally for the youngster. I switched her over to a high quality food and got pudding poop. Maybe a more mid-grade food will give "better" results in the other end?